Trust in Me (25 page)
Authors: Dee Tenorio
Or something. Cole thought longingly to the fry that had mercifully tried to kill him minutes ago. Why had he fought it?
“I know this sounds completely unlikely, but…let’s say she doesn’t fall in love with me and the prospect of feeding me every day for the rest of her life isn’t enough of an enticement to get her to marry me?”
Locke shrugged. “At least you tried.”
Cole took his first breath of the meal…
“We’ll just find someone else and try again.”
…and choked on it.
“Try
again
? You mean you guys are going to shop Amanda around until someone bites?”
Locke didn’t smile this time. He didn’t do anything. He just stared, his blue gaze as implacably serious as the resolute will he’d used to raise the family currently surrounding him.
Asking Cole to marry Amanda was one thing. The Jackmans were his friends, despite Locke’s unnerving ability to…well, unnerve him. He wasn’t going to go telling anyone that the brothers were off their rockers and just short of pitching their sister on the auction block, and they knew it. Even the youngest ones. But should he turn them down, Amanda would quickly become a laughingstock in their quaint little southern California town of Rancho del Cielo. And no one in RDC ever forgot a good laugh.
Put like that, turning them down wasn’t an option.
Locke pulled something out of his shirt pocket and clacked it onto the center of the table. “See you at dinner, Cole. Seven o’clock. And wear a tie. You’re courting.”
He slid out from behind the table with a little more grace than someone his size should have been allowed. Within seconds, Cole found himself alone at the massive booth with an empty plate, a raw set of nerves and an open jeweler’s box complete with a glittering engagement ring.
For the first time since high school, Cole Engstrom was dying for a cigarette.
She needs an escape…and he’s exactly what she had in mind.
Take What You Want
© 2013 Jeanette Grey
College senior Ellen Price spends every spare minute studying to get into medical school. Until spring break yawns before her, as empty as her wallet.
With no money to hit the beach, she fills her empty to-do list with a plan: for just one week, she will become the kind of take-no-prisoners woman she secretly wishes to be, starting with the hot guy at the bar. It's a no-risk situation: at the end of break, he’ll head back to his campus, and she’ll go back to hers. No muss, no fuss.
At first, Josh Markley isn’t sure what to think when the quiet, intense beauty from his pre-med classes approaches him for a night of casual sex. Even more mystifying, she doesn’t seem to return his recognition. But if she wants to play “strangers in a bar”, he’s game.
Their passionate night is a welcome respite from life’s stress, but afterward, Josh realizes he wants more—from himself, from life, from Ellen. Except she still thinks he’s a one-off she’ll never see again. Confessing the truth now—before she figures it out on her own—could shatter the fragile beginnings of just what the doctor ordered. A forever love.
Warning: Contains mistaken identities, a sometimes-glasses-wearing hottie, deep questions about figuring out what you want from life, and a red-hot college romance.
Enjoy the following excerpt for
Take What You Want:
“You look beautiful,” he murmured, kissing his way toward her ear.
She hummed and touched his chest, tilting her neck and giving him more of herself to kiss. “You look nice, too.”
“Thanks.” He pressed his lips once more over her pulse point, then stood up straight and slid his hand to the small of her back. “After you.”
He held his breath as they made their way toward his car. She let him hold the door for her and glanced up at him as she folded herself into the seat. Her skirt rose up on her thighs, and from this angle, he could see down her shirt.
He closed the door and took the long way around to his side of the car, forcing a few long, hard breaths before climbing in beside her. The instant they were closed inside that space together, all his efforts at calming himself were for naught. He’d been inside her twice, but sitting there like that, going out like normal people, felt like another thing entirely. He glanced over at her, only to find her gazing at him, her expression easy and sure. And she looked so beautiful.
Out of nowhere, he said, “Thank you.”
Her laughter rang out like bells. “For what?”
“For agreeing to go out with me.”
She reached over and put her hand on his knee. “Thanks for asking.”
“Right.” He couldn’t help grinning. He’d asked, and she’d said yes. “Right.”
With that, he turned the key in the ignition and positioned both hands securely on the wheel.
It was a quiet ride over to the restaurant. At some point, she asked where they were going, and he grinned, kept his eyes on the road and told her she’d find out soon enough. It wasn’t as if he was really keeping her guessing. In a little college town, there weren’t all that many options, and when they pulled up in front of his favorite Italian place, there was a smug tilt to her mouth.
“You’re okay with Italian?”
“Love it.”
He got out and went around to her side of the car. He wasn’t in time to get her door for her, but he could at least take her hand as she stepped out. The whole walk across the parking lot, he didn’t let it go.
Inside, the usually bustling restaurant was unusually slow, just like everything else was when classes weren’t in session, and before long, they were seated across from each other in a quiet booth in the back. As he perused the menu, Josh kept darting his gaze over to Ellen to take in her face. She read with her full attention, and in spite of the make-up and the styled hair, she looked so much like the girl from the other side of the lecture hall that it made his chest tight. Finally, she put down her menu and smiled at him.
“Figure out what you want?”
She nodded, licking her lips and gazing at him. “I think so.”
“Good.” He stared right back, as caught up as ever in her.
The sound of a throat clearing broke the moment. Josh looked up to find a waiter hovering, his expression clearly questioning whether he should stay or go. Josh folded his menu up and nodded. Once they’d placed their orders, the waiter retreated just as quickly as he’d come, and Josh was left alone with Ellen.
For a minute, all he could do was stare.
She was the first to glance away. “So…” she said.
“So.”
“This is us. On a date.”
“That it is.” Just the thought made him smile. He reached across the table and held his hands out, silently asking. She hesitated, gaze down, but then placed her palms in his. “I really am glad you’re here.”
“Me, too.” Only her eyes still weren’t meeting his.
“Hey.” He squeezed her fingers. “Look at me?”
Her gaze rose, her shoulders straightening.
He drew in a deep breath and rubbed her knuckles. “I asked you out because I want to get to know you. This weekend…” His voice trailed off as flashes of heat slid over his skin.
Fortunately, she finished his sentence for him. “Was amazing.”
“So amazing.” He lifted their joined hands and leaned forward to press one soft kiss to the back of each. “And I just…I want to know you.”
She flinched but didn’t shut down. “I already told you. There’s not much to tell.”
“And I already told you, I don’t believe you.”
Her gaze followed their hands as he lowered them down to the table. Her voice low and just a little distant, she asked, “When do classes start up again for you?”
Right. Because she still thought he would be leaving soon.
“Monday,” he answered honestly. “But my dad and I are leaving Saturday for this…camping thing.”
“So you’re leaving in four days.”
It wasn’t exactly a lie. “Yes.”
“We met on Saturday and you’re leaving on Saturday. A week and a day. And you want to get to know me?” Her voice was disaffected, but there was something wavering to it, too. “Is it even worth it?”
“Yes.” He didn’t hesitate, didn’t give an inch. With his eyes, he tried to tell her what he didn’t have words yet to say. “To me, it is. The question is, will you let me?”
She didn’t answer, just withdrew her hands and looked away at the TV in the corner. Everything about her posture was affected nonchalance, but there was tension in there, too. The downward tug at the corner of her mouth and the tapping of her nail against her lip. And it was…horrible. Awkward and awful and…
Silently cursing at himself, he balled up his napkin in his fist. He’d had to press. He’d just had to.
But how else was he going to get what he wanted from her?
Just then, she started, turning toward him, fingers going to her hair and lips parting as if she were about to speak. His heart rose into his throat, but the instant her gaze connected with his, she darted it away again. Twisted her whole body away.
But she’d wanted to talk to him. She had.
And he could wait as long as she needed him to.
It didn’t take that long, after all. Three more aborted attempts at speech, each more resolved than the last, and she finally faced him straight-on. The uncertain motions were all gone now, her elbow anchored to the edge of the table, hand loosely curled in the air in front of her.
“You really want to do this?”
Did she even know what she was asking?
Voice and gaze both dead level, he said, simply, “Yes.”
Trust in Me
Dee Tenorio
Sometimes falling in love is the easy part…
A
Rancho del Cielo
Romance
Locke Jackman is single, childless…and he has a bad case of empty nest syndrome. For years, as he fought tooth and nail to keep his brothers and sisters together after his parents died, his entire life was focused on his responsibilities.
Now his siblings have all moved on with their lives, and there’s no one around to distract him from his overpowering attraction to his sister’s best friend. Their mutual desire is stunning…but then again, so are the secrets keeping them apart.
Susie Packard’s nightmarish marriage taught her what happens when she gives in to her weakness for powerful men. Too bad the big, stoic frowner across the street—the one who sets her bells jangling just by breathing—has her in his sights.
Try as she might to keep her emotional distance, Locke is determinedly knocking down all her walls. But as much as she wants to be the woman he needs, she knows better than most—passion may have its rewards, but every secret has its price.
Warning: This book contains a hot, modern-day Viking seducing his way to the heart of his woman, a stubborn lingerie designer with a world of secrets and a very deep bathtub… Enjoy!
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This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
11821 Mason Montgomery Road Suite 4B
Cincinnati OH 45249
Trust in Me
Copyright © 2013 by Dee Tenorio
ISBN: 978-1-61921-541-2
Edited by Jennifer Miller
Cover by Valerie Tibbs
All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
First
Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
electronic publication: July 2013
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